About The Bat Cave

Saturday, June 7, 2008

I Might Have A Problem

The last thing I had to do after the madness that was BEA is sort through the books I got for myself. After several runs to the post office last week, I finally can see my dining room table again. Because not only did I score books for myself, I found myself grabbing several titles for family and friends. For the record, Lil' Sis made out like a bandit, thanks to the plethora of YA titles that I came across. As a high school English teacher, she's always looking for books for her classroom, so whenever I stumble across YA authors/books at a conference, I do my best to score her some freebies. Hey, she's a teacher. Trust me. She deserves whatever freebies I can scrounge up for her.

I just counted my pirate's booty, and I have 31 books to add to the TBR. Thirty-one. Big hearty sigh. I think I might have a problem. I'm dangerously close to owning 1000 books. It might be time for another mass weeding project. ::adding to to-do list::

But enough of me wallowing in TBR guilt. On to the important stuff! Here are just a few of the titles I scored:

Celluloid Memories by Sandra Kitt, out now - Some of the biggest names on the Kimani roster were on hand for a signing in the Harlequin booth - Brenda Jackson, Donna Hill, Rochelle Alers, Gwynne Forster, along with Kitt. I was particularly excited to get my hands on Celluloid Memories because it's got a Hollywood storyline and takes place in L.A. Why don't more romances take place in L.A.?

Red by Jordan Summers, pub date 11/08 - Ahhh, a paranormal romance. Normally I probably wouldn't have touched this one with a ten-foot pole, but Summers is a columnist over at Romancing the Blog (just like me) and I wanted to meet her to say "Hi." And actually? Red looks kinda interesting. Heroine is in law enforcement, and meets a sheriff in a remote town who has secrets to hide. The tag line? What if Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf turned out to be the same person? So yeah, I'm going to give it a go.

Hooked on Murder by Betty Hechtman, out now - This was an impulse grab when I stumbled across the Mystery Writers' of America booth. This is the first in a cozy mystery series, and oh how I love me the cozies. This looks cute, and I'm always on the lookout for new authors. Heroine works for a bookstore, and becomes prime suspect number one when the leader of the local crochet group she belongs to turns up dead.

The Actress by Elizabeth Sims, out now - I actually had already ordered this title for work based on good reviews, and was intrigued by it then. Lucky for me the author was signing at the MWA booth as I happened by! Out of work actress desperate for a gig takes a job for a defense attorney who wants her to prepare his client for her day in court. Sounds like easy money right? Naturally mayhem ensues. Oh and this one also takes place in L.A.

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland, pub date 11/08 - The first in a new urban fantasy series for Handeland, and the way the back cover copy reads - definitely urban fantasy (over romance) as the series is going to follow one lead character. Heroine learns that the end of the world is near, and she's determined to stop it. Mainly picked this up out of curiosity, but I've enjoyed Handeland's first person writing style in the past (yep, this is first person).

Cold Hearted by Beverly Barton, pub date 9/08 - Dang, Barton has written a ton of books and I've never read her. I picked up this shiny ARC because Kensington had a ton of them on display. I suspect this is part of a series, but the back cover copy promises me a female serial killer and a cat-and-mouse style plot. I'm game.

I was at Elizabeth Sims' signing at BookExpo, too! I've already read "The Actress" and it's not a spoiler for me to say that an important early scene takes place in the L.A. Library.Also, as one "Michigan refugee" to another, you might want to check out Sims' earlier "Lillian Byrd Crime" series as they're set in Detroit.